Thursday, June 12, 2008

COMMENTS: Kuroda is coming off a complete game shutout masterpiece, painted against the red-hot canvas of the Chicago Cubs no less. Peavy, the Padres' ace and last year's Cy Young award winner, is coming off the DL (strained right elbow) for this start. Kuroda faced Johan Santana two outings ago and is probably not planning on visiting nearby Sycuan Casino (a Padres sponsor!), given the cards he has drawn lately for opposing pitchers. But I guarantee you this, Hiroki: even with the Dodgers' awful offense (third-worst OPS (.714) and fewest home runs (44) in the NL), if you can pitch another complete game shutout, SoSG promises that you'll get the win.

STAT OF THE DAY: Kuroda is one of only six NL pitchers with complete game shutouts in 2008, joining Cole Hamels (2), Brandon Webb, Ben Sheets, Braden Looper, and Tim Hudson. There have been 16 CGs in the NL this year (Sheets, Webb, and Hamels each have two).

Man, this blows. I forgot there was a day game, had a nice leisurely lunch with two old high school friends, and I sign on to find this. The Padres suck! They have no offense at all, and we're going to get shellacked by them? Ugh.

I'm watching the Cubs game. They're down 2-1, they load the bases with two outs, and Piniella lets Zambrano bat for himself, even after Bobby Cox goes to a reliever. Zambrano swings at the first pitch, a pitch at his neck, and pops up to end the threat. Not so sure about that one, Lou.

Orel, if you charged the mound for Erin to avenge her plunking, would Jake Peavy:a) spit his tobacco at youb) leave his feet and try and kick you a la Chan Hoc) beat you to a tard) it doesn't matter as you'd be avenging Erin, so any Peavy response is meaningless

One of the friends I had lunch with today (we went to high school together in Florida) was passing through town on his way to Ann Arbor to do his residency at the University of Michigan. So there's a chance I'll go to visit him sometime in the next few weeks, and we'll see a game.

Sax, it's the friend of mine that you and AC met when we saw each other at Dodger Stadium.

I really don't think I'll be seeing the Hulk. I didn't see the first one, and I don't really like Ed Norton. So it just doesn't really interest me. We'll see if the girlfriend feels differently, but I don't think she does. Can I assume you'll be seeing it?

WALL*E intrigues me. There are large portions of it without any dialogue other than robot blips. I'll probably see that one, but I don't know if we'll have time to see a movie this weekend. Christine (the girlfriend--I'll address her by her name now) will be working very, very late on Friday, then probably have to work all day Saturday, and then we have to hang out with one of her coworkers on Saturday night, since it's that coworkers' last week. I think we'll spend Sunday recovering.

I realize Joe Torre hasn't had the best choices to work with for parts of this season, but what do we think about the job he's done so far? I mean, he makes some strange choices, and keeps guys in the game who probably shouldn't be playing (I'm looking at you, Sweeney). But is that his choice or Ned Colletti's or Frank McCourt's? A lot of people don't think the manager can have that much impact, but I think he has a little more effect in the National League, at least.

And guess what, Berroa is nothing like a .182 batter! Many foul balls in the AB don't change the outcome: the third out of the inning, stranding Loney on first. With his third straight out of the day, Berroa is batting .167 now after that K.

It's funny, DeWitt batting sixth is 0-for-3 today, but to be fair he's batting like he's in the eight-hole with Berroa, Maza, and the pitcher behind him.

i'm almost glad i missed the game because i had to work in this semi-strange gig...thanks the Lord they are playing Detroit this weekend, unless they manage to make the Tigers rotation as Cy Young worthy material, but i guess they're facing surprise rookie Armando Galarraga (i hope they're mistaken).Watching Gameday, King James was the only hitter in the lineup who could collect a couple of hits, but of course there was no clutch and i'm not talking about DeWitt...we all have to remember the cup is half-filled.

hmm, i grew up between boys and i know you can be more offensive than that!

it was semi strange, because i work freelance and this production company usually hires me a lot!, doing wardrobe and props, sometimes they call me to work as an extra in commercials and today i had to act...so i put on lots of makeup to disimulate my two days of flu and i did what i was told...it's also semi strange because it's the third commercial i do as an extra for the same client...